Edwidge Danticat and Wyclef Jean:
Propagating the "New Folk Ethos"

In Harlem, Haiti, and Havana Martha Cobb discusses the "new folk ethos," an anthropological phrase which refers to the definitive cultural forms produced by Africans, or those of African descent, since the Atlantic Passage. The new folk ethos is composed of five paired elements: 1. Music and dance, 2. Drums and rhythms, 3. Rhetorical and polemical speech, 4. Art as education and entertainment, and 5. Humor and absurdity. Considering that Haiti is the first independent black nation in the Western Hemisphere, it is important to examine the contribution that Haitians have made to propagating the new folk ethos. Edwidge Danticat and Wyclef Jean are two Haitian artists who had emigrated to the U.S. in order to improve their possibilities of success and have both reached high levels of renown, therefore making them prime candidates for discussion in terms of the new folk ethos.

First let us consider Edwidge Danticat, one of America's hottest new writers. Her short stories have been published in twenty-five periodicals, she is the winner of the 1995 Pushcart Short Story Prize as well as fiction awards from The Caribbean Writer, Seventeen, and Essence magazines. Danticat as an up-and-coming literary force has the attained the power to shape and bring new awareness to the conscious of anyone who reads her work. Krik! Krak!, her latest work, is a collection of short stories which establishes Danticat as an heir to the narrative tradition of Haiti. The stories are primarily concerned with the role of women in Haitian society as mothers, daughters, sisters, and individuals. Danticat's treatment of the women transcends their traditional portrayal as domestic care givers and enilghtens the reader to the hardship and wonder, the passion and suffering, that comprises the life of Haitian women. Danticat has evoked the use of art as education and entertainment in all of her works. She has also infused her works with profound symbols that suggest political protest juxtaposed with blatant statements of socioal, political and cultural concern. Danticat has helped to redefine the image of Haitian women in accordance with the new folk ethos by educating and entertaining with her art as well as making political/cultural statements about the diasporan societies of the U.S. and Haiti. (For a closer examination of Danticat's work please refer to the critical analyses portion of this site.)

Wyclef Jean, the frontman for the Fugees, has also become an agent of the new folk ethos. In his lyrics from the celebrated LP The Carnival he uses humor and absurdity to discuss hip-hop, Haitian society, and many other topics. He also uses a variety of musical styles from the Caribbean and the U.S. in order to create a musical approximation of what it is to be Haitian-American. Jean's album is a metaphor of life for many Caribbean-Americans as well as native-born Americans. His use of the Carnival, (traditionally a period of celebration in which the ordinary limits of life are forgotten and people act out in unusual ways), allows Jean the freedom to use "masks", or step in to different personas, in order to paint an intriguing portrayal of diasporan America.

If one takes track 13, "Sang Fezi", as an example, it is apparent that Jean is concerned with the state that many male Haitians find themselves in. Since the song is in Kreol, I've provided an interpretation.